EMILIO AMBASZ & Associates Inc.
MONTANA (USA)
1991
PRIVATE ESTATE
On a magnificent 1,400-acre site along a secluded river valley, this complex of three buildings houses a family, the estate’s caretaker and a private art collection. The siting creates a dynamic sequence of surprise and discovery as the natural landscape envelopes each building mass and leaves only the bold facades exposed. The landscape appears to flow down the hillside completely covering each building, in the historic Montana tradition where log cabins typically had roofs covered with earth. In addition, like the buildings, which have now come to symbolize the traditional historic American Western town, each trellised facade plane extends well beyond the volume of the building that it masks from view. The only major visual element is the facade. These ivy-covered trellis facades lean against colonnades of bare logs—a rustic classical reference that employs the primeval vocabulary of the forest. At the top of each log is a gilded capital to match the building's bronze cornice that captures the lingering reflections of the setting sun. The strong, inward curve of the main residence embraces a raised cour d'honneur. The art gallery, set in a quiet meadow across a pond, is accessible only by foot and curves gently outward. Beyond the houses and the art gallery, a small meditation pavilion peeks enigmatically out of the wilderness.